East Penn considers educational foundation

The East Penn School District is considering the creation of a nonprofit educational foundation to help fund programs in the face of a still-sluggish economy.

The East Penn School District is considering the creation of a nonprofit educational foundation to help fund programs in the face of a still-sluggish economy. (MORNING CALL FILE PHOTO)

Dan SullivanSpecial to The Morning Call

East Penn considers educational foundation

Parochial schools do it. Private schools do it. Charter schools do it. Colleges and universities do it. And some neighboring school districts, including Parkland, do it with great success.

Now the East Penn School District is considering following in their footsteps and creating a nonprofit educational foundation to help fund programs in the face of a still-sluggish economy.

Nicole Bloise, employed by the district as its community liaison, presented her research Monday evening at the behest of the school board.

She said each educational foundation she researched is unique in its programs and that activities could include both fundraising for specific purpose and creating an endowment. Her laundry list of what could possibly be funded included facilities improvements, equipment and supplies, technology enhancements, professional development and K-12 enrichment programs.

Boise said the next steps, should the school board decide to move forward with the idea, would include fielding interested candidates and selecting at least 20 community members to form the initial foundation board. Legal documents would also have to be filed with the state.

She said her research suggested school administrators who sit on the boards of such foundations typically abstained from voting. School director Charles Ballard questioned that restriction, and Bloise promised further research.

Commitment of foundation board members would include attending four to six board meetings annually, sitting on at least one committee, spreading the word about the foundation and encouraging giving, Bloise said.

School Director Ziad Munson wondered whether forming an educational foundation would be worth the time and effort.

Bloise responded, "It's a lot of time for the people involved, so you want to make it worthwhile."

She said Parkland School District's educational foundation typically raises in the neighborhood of $75,000 to $80,000 annually from one gala event alone.

Responding to a question by school director Lynn Donches, Bloise said the foundation would not rely on taxpayer dollars but would likely request the use of school district facilities for meetings and events.

"I'm all in favor of testing the waters to see if there's any interest in the community," said East Penn School Board President Alan Earnshaw.

That interest will now be gauged before the board officially moves forward.

Interested parties – the board could ultimately include up to 40 community members – will be asked to submit personal biographies. Anyone interested in joining the foundation board should contact Bloise at 610- 966-8335. Notices will also be placed on the school board website and in local media.

•In other business:

Superintendent Michael Schilder delivered the district's wish list from capital reserve funds for projects totaling nearly $900,000. These included replacing some of the roofs and upgrading air filtration and security camera systems at Emmaus High school, districtwide masonry and building repairs, replacing old carpeting with tile at Macungie Elementary School and paving projects at Shoemaker Elementary School and Eyer Middle School.

Schilder said the district currently has about $2.4 million in its capital reserve coffers.

The school board decided to table approval of next year's academic calendar to give administrators a chance to revisit policy and clarify language regarding snow days.

Currently the academic calendar includes four more instructional days than the minimum 180 days required by the state, with two of those extra days built in as potential makeup days for snow days. If more than two makeup days are required, the current policy is to shave one day off President's Day Weekend and up to two days off spring break before adding instructional days at the end of the school year.